Paris – Lorenzo Musetti is a confident player.
Everything he has done in the last 52 weeks has helped him be just that.
You can see it in the Italians’ body language, and in his results. We saw it firsthand on Tuesday on Court Simonne-Mathieu as the 22-year-old dismantled Colombia’s Daniel Galan in straight sets to reach the third round in Paris.
Was he relaxed? During a rain delay, he sat in his chair, like a gentleman, holding an umbrella for a ball kid.
Apparently so.
It could’ve been a long day. Tricky conditions, an opponent who loves the clay and who was hitting his forehand extremely well. But the Italian made sure it wasn’t.
Since breaking out at last Wimbledon and reaching the semifinals, Musetti has become a different player. He then won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics on the red clay, his best surface.
All the steps Musetti has taken have led him here. He’s always been a gifted player, and one with a very diverse skill set. He can use all the tools and all the tactics, and perhaps it was just a question of time for Musetti. The time that it takes to truly understand what tools and tactics to use against what players.
With an extremely versatile, one-hand backhand that he can drive with topspin or slice diabolically, the Italian can keep his opponents guessing.
And these days as he gains experience on tour, he can read their reactions to what he delivers, and base his evolving tactics on that information.
We can clearly see that Musetti is beyond his formative years on tour. He entered the top 10 just before Roland-Garros and he has won 23 of his last 27 matches on clay. In other words, he is coming into his own.
He reached the final in Monte-Carlo, and backed it up with semifinals in Madrid and Rome, where he became the third Italian man to reach the semifinals at Rome this century, and the ninth player in history to reach at least the semifinals at all three clay-court Masters 1000 events in the same season.
Musetti says the experience is a key factor in his rise.
“I think of course I'm more experienced at the Grand Slams, especially making semis in Wimbledon," he said on Wednesday in Paris. "I understand what I need during a Grand Slam - even before a Grand Slam - not just in terms of physical training, but in terms of general daily routine, daily life.
“I think that brings me more confidence and more trust in what I'm doing right now.”
Catch a glimpse of Musetti on the clay, and it’s easy to see why he is so successful. He never plays the same shot twice. He’s in possession of so much variety, he’s got weapons that he can use to attack when time is right, and he is also one of the best movers in the men’s game on the clay.
Just watch those 10 meter long skid marks that trail behind him on the clay as he slides into a winning volley. Snap.
Musetti has never been the type of player that can just bring out his weapons and use them without ever thinking about things on a deeper level. Which explains why it might have taken him longer to develop. He needed to learn about how his came can be impactful, before he could truly unleash it.
He’s unleashing it now, at No.7 in the world, and a true threat to make a deep front in Paris. If Carlos Alcaraz falters in Paris, would you be surprised to see him in the final? It’s all possible now for Musetti in a way it ever was before, and it could be just the beginning.